Col Muammar Gaddafi’s Libyan government appeared to be preparing for a last violent final showdown after it emerged that his beleaguered regime had fired a Scud missile at rebel territory as opposition forces closed in on Tripoli.

The rebels were attempting to identify the trajectory of the missile which was fired from Col Gaddafi’s stronghold of Sirte even as his envoys headed for new talks with the opposition and a United Nations special envoy in Tunisia.

Despite rumours that he is preparing to flee, the opposition fear Col Gaddafi is preparing a desperate last stand in Tripoli and towns still loyal to him in the face of recent rebel advances on two fronts which has cut off his crucial supply routes.

In the early hours of Monday morning, the defiant Libyan leader addressed his people, calling on them to take up arms and “defend their fatherland” and predicting a swift end for “the rats” and the “coloniser” – the rebels and Nato.